Gemini

The Gift of the Devas

«Well, I'd say we've ascertained that positive emotions are the trigger for my Gift» I said, looking at my arms, which were now glowing as if they had been lit up in neon. «Now we just have to figure out how it works» Nate commented. The funny thing was that I had no idea what to try to make it work.

«Yours is supposed to be the Gift of the Devas, the Gift of Creation, maybe try to think about wanting to create something» he suggested. «Don't tell me genius» I retorted. I stood for a couple of minutes in silence thinking, trying to figure out what I could create. The answer was not long in coming: «Could you take me to the ground?» I asked Nate politely. «I want to try something». We got down pretty easily. I'd say he was definitely getting the hang of it with his Gift.

«Cabin crew ready for landing» I said half laughing as we got our feet back to the ground, and once again Nate gave me one of those disarmed looks that made me realise that maybe, just maybe, in that world airplanes had not yet been invented.

At this rate my sense of humour will suffer.

We landed where the boy's massacre had taken place.

What I had to do became clear to me as soon as I hit the ground: I approached what little remained of the boy and knelt on the ground. I imagined the rings around my arms splitting into a multitude of particles that I would rearrange as I wished. I hadn't even finished processing this thought when this very thing happened: the rings began to whirl, generating a large number of those purple particles of which they seemed to be bizarrely composed, which positioned themselves right in front of my eyes according to the shape I had imposed on them. In the space of a split second I had created a small white tombstone to commemorate the death of the poor boy. I finished my work and stood up beaming, both because I had just made a nice deed and because I had made my Gift work. «Ellie that's great! That was amazing, you are really an amazing person» Nate told me all excited.

«And this is only the beginning my dear. Nate, I know what we are going to do today!» I said laughing.

So happened that we spent the whole morning and early afternoon practising using our Gifts.

I'm sure that if anyone had seen us at that time they would have taken us for a couple of crazy people.

Or he would run for his life, one of the two. We were running around trying to see what I could create, and Nate seeing how much he could change the laws of physics before someone decided to drop a lightning bolt on his head.

But if no lightning (fortunately) fell that day, I would say that none should fall in the future.

Unless Nate drops them, but that is a different story.

Nate had understood how to use his Gift not even a day before and he had reached already extraordinary levels of proficiency in the Gift of Asuras: he could already maintain two relatively "easy" effects at the same time while flying, otherwise he could normally control as many as four at once. Impressive if you ask me.

I, on the other hand, was beginning to better understand the limits and workings of my Gift of Creation: apparently I could not create living animals (and I was quite happy about that, I would have been able to do strange things if I could), whereas for plants there seemed to be no problem. I think I had created approximately a thousand objects during the whole day, and in fact when we stopped in the evening I was dead tired, but I had made considerable progress: I could create all the four elements in all their combinations, but the bigger I wanted to create, the longer it took me: I managed to create a respectable little tree house on a large oak at the edge of the clearing, but it took me at least half an hour before I finished it.

-

Me and Nate decided that the best thing to do at the moment was to take up temporary residence in my own little house.

In order to be safer from possible reappearances of maniacal cultists, Nate managed to have the light deflected so that the little house could not be seen from the outside and made sure that no sound could get out from inside, while I somehow created a couple of beds, a table and other furnishings inside our shelter to give it colour. You know, better be safe than sorry.

We were quite a big team.

At night, before going to sleep, we agreed that the next day we would try to practise fighting. We both had some basic martial arts skills, which we had hardly acquired when we were younger, but which we now had to be able to integrate with our Gifts to avoid ending up like that boy.

I noted with satisfaction that this aspect of our other-worldly life had also been effectively implemented in this one.

This one was, but ninjas were not. All right karma, all right.

And so our plan for the next few days was set: after a few days of practice Nate could stop whatever I threw at him with his Infinitesimal Divergence, whatever that meant, and he managed to make his blows more effective by combining some of those things he knew so well that he could make practically anything fly away. I still don't understand how his Gift works, but I suppose I will get it sooner or later.

He told me that he had started to prepare a very spectacular shot, but that it would take him a lot of effort to make it completely the way he imagined it.

I on the other hand could defend myself very well by creating thick slabs of rock or water bubbles that made even hitting me very difficult. Being creative pays off, guys.

We were very pleased with our progress and, although deep inside we hoped we would never have to use the fruits of it, we were eager to see what we were really capable of.